Hiya.
I've had a couple of requests for more info about my laptop, so here it is. Sorry not to reply personally, but it was getting, well, a little long saying the same thing over and over.
Hubby is the tech buyer at our house so I had to ask him. He said, iBooks range from $1300 to $1800, depending on the drive. You can get cd rom, dvd, dc rom rewriteable (reads and burns cd's) or the combo drive which reads dvd's and reads and burns cd's, which is the one we have. You could also use a PowerBook but I don't the price range on those. The Airport base station runs about $300 and supports up to 10 computers, and each computer needs an Airport card which is about $100. The range is 150 feet, so about the length of a football field, in all directions from the base station. Even through different floors of a building, etc. I take mine outside to watch the kid, very cool.
Things to consider: The Airport is actually about average cost for that kind of thing, but being an Apple product, it won't work with wintel machines if that's what you use. We have 3 computers on the Airport, our two laptops and a desktop. If you have kids on iMacs plus mom and dad surf, this might be a good deal. Hubby is an early adopter and I personally believe in buying the top of the line but holding onto it forever, so he will resell his iBook for something else when it comes out and I will keep mine until it falls apart. Airport works in all the iBooks and in the desktops issued since 1999.
If you live near one, you could check it out at one of the new Apple stores. They're in Glendale, CA; Willow Bend Mall in Plano, TX; Mall of American in Minnesota; and two we can't remember, one in VA and one near Chicago. Or I suppose any computer convention in your area. Or you can order online at http://www.apple.com if you feel comfortable with that. Personally I like to try stuff out before giving out money, but hubby doesn't feel that way.
So, maybe costly to make the switch, but we love ours and I'd recommend the product if you can manage it.
I've had a couple of requests for more info about my laptop, so here it is. Sorry not to reply personally, but it was getting, well, a little long saying the same thing over and over.
Hubby is the tech buyer at our house so I had to ask him. He said, iBooks range from $1300 to $1800, depending on the drive. You can get cd rom, dvd, dc rom rewriteable (reads and burns cd's) or the combo drive which reads dvd's and reads and burns cd's, which is the one we have. You could also use a PowerBook but I don't the price range on those. The Airport base station runs about $300 and supports up to 10 computers, and each computer needs an Airport card which is about $100. The range is 150 feet, so about the length of a football field, in all directions from the base station. Even through different floors of a building, etc. I take mine outside to watch the kid, very cool.
Things to consider: The Airport is actually about average cost for that kind of thing, but being an Apple product, it won't work with wintel machines if that's what you use. We have 3 computers on the Airport, our two laptops and a desktop. If you have kids on iMacs plus mom and dad surf, this might be a good deal. Hubby is an early adopter and I personally believe in buying the top of the line but holding onto it forever, so he will resell his iBook for something else when it comes out and I will keep mine until it falls apart. Airport works in all the iBooks and in the desktops issued since 1999.
If you live near one, you could check it out at one of the new Apple stores. They're in Glendale, CA; Willow Bend Mall in Plano, TX; Mall of American in Minnesota; and two we can't remember, one in VA and one near Chicago. Or I suppose any computer convention in your area. Or you can order online at http://www.apple.com if you feel comfortable with that. Personally I like to try stuff out before giving out money, but hubby doesn't feel that way.
So, maybe costly to make the switch, but we love ours and I'd recommend the product if you can manage it.